Kiss and hell

Kiss and hell

Saturday 23 September 2006 19.10 EDT
First published on Saturday 23 September 2006 19.10 EDT

There are few sculptures more widely known than The Kiss. Auguste Rodin's masterpiece is renowned as a vision of consummated passion. But as visitors to the Royal Academy's superb Rodin exhibition will have noted, there is more to the work than the celebration of love.

The sculpture, derived from figures originally carved on Rodin's The Gates of Hell, depicts a couple caught in the act of infidelity. Lust, not love, is on display here and for Rodin the fate of these adulterers would have been simple: damnation, the real reward of those seeking extramarital 'fun'.

It might seem harsh. But as Chris Tarrant, John Prescott and others will testify, an eternity in hell probably seems preferable to the tabloid indignities that have just been heaped on their heads thanks to their philandering.